Passport of Presidential candidates accessed

It is now public that all three remaining Presidential candidates' passport files have been accessed by unauthorized personnel. Rice has personally called Barack Obama to apologize, but hasn't said she did the same for the other two candidates.

I'll let you read the story I linked to, but my favorite quote from it also sums up my opinion of the matter:
"This is an outrageous breach of security and privacy, even from an administration that has shown little regard for either over the last eight years," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton in a statement.
Boy, ain't that the truth?

Chinese attempt to dispel protest, resulting in riots

I know the Olympics have lost their flavor for most Americans, and society judges it as somewhat of a old-world athletic tradition in a collection of sports we don't really care about. But as an international symbol of peace, athletic cooperation, and opportunities for dialogue, it still means a great deal.

The Chinese have provided another shining example of why they do not deserve to be the host of the 2008 Summer Olympic games. The Tibetan people have suffered under Chinese rule for 50 years and their political and spiritual leader has been forced to live in exile during that time. When they wanted to hold a peaceful protest on the anniversary of the 1959 uprising, Chinese police responded with batons, tear gas, and bullets. Surely they mistook Tibetan monks wrapped in bright orange robes for al Qaeda terrorists. Easy mistake?

In the five days since, businesses have been burned, civilians injured and killed, Chinese military rolling through the streets of Lhasa, and a media blackout so one will see the atrocities committed by the Chinese government. It would seem the Chinese government was going to give the Tibetans some warm Olympic spirit whether they wanted it or not.

1) Weapons of Mass Destruction
2) Saddam Hussein supported al Qaeda

Those were the two reasons the Bush Administration invented for going into Iraq. Now both of them have been dispelled by the Pentagon as absolutely, 100 percent, NOT TRUE!

Hussein and al Qaeda not linked - Pentagon

Now that both lies have been proven false, will this be the moment you agree that impeachment is the best option for George W. Bush?
Will you finally admit that he has committed crimes against the Constitution and crimes against humanity?
Will you finally believe in justice for a man who has killed more than 4,000 American soldiers, wounded more than 10,000 American soldiers, and killed approximately 500,000 Iraqis?

What more do you need?

Bill Gates asks Congress for more "Smart People" visas

Normally, politics and money go hand-in-glove. Politicians love to host dinners and galas (a.k.a. "money-for-favors fundraisers") and the powerful love to buy a Congressman, Senator, or President whenever it is convenient.

So it is natural to assume Congresspersons (is that a word?) would be tripping over each other to do what Bill Gates wants. Other than Warren Buffet, there is no one richer in America. So then why is it, after so many years of discussion, Congress is still arbitrarily limiting the amount of highly educated and highly trained individuals we allow into this country? Are we trying to corner the market on stupidity? That would be understandable under President Bush because he seems to have an aversion to people smarter than him. But seriously - we have capped the number of smart people we allow in! Through a program knows as the "H-1B visa", we allow highly educated people to live and work in the United States for companies like Microsoft, Google, Boeing, etc. Congress has capped the number of those visas to 65,000 per year. That number is so pathetically low, they were all taken in one day and far under-served the demand. Again, basic economic theory isn't the strong point of this Administration, but in this case, Congress should grasp simple supply and demand.

While I do not believe that the lack of H-1B visas is the reason so many companies are outsourcing jobs to other countries, it does point to yet another flaw in America's immigration policy. We have few reservations about opening the border to 20 million uneducated criminals, but when intelligent foreigners want to obey the law and enter the United States, we actually put a quota in place.

Yet another reason no federal politician on my ballot in November will receive my vote for re-election. Our government has failed us.

Bush plans to veto ban of waterboarding

If you happen to be one of the tiny fraction of Americans who are still unsure about the damage President Bush has done to this country, please, do me a favor and click the link above. You will see the quote from the White House in which they declare torture to be necessary for preventing attacks against America. They consider torture to be perfectly acceptable, legal, and necessary.

Perhaps I fell asleep in my history classes, or forgot my moral compass on a hike to the top of Mount You-Think-I-Am-Stupid, but didn't we demonize the Japanese for conducting waterboarding on our soldiers? Haven't we demonized every country who commits acts of torture? I thought we took the moral high ground so as to encourage the end of these primitive practices, especially on our own troops.

This one decision alone should be enough to impeach the President for high-crimes and misdemeanors and remove his Attorney General from office. So here's another request from The Onramp Podcast: Write your Representative, write your Senator, and write your President telling them that you will not support those who support torture.

Taller Border Fences Work!

U.S. Border Patrol says fences work

It astounds me when people try to debunk the notion that fences along the border don't work in stopping (or dramatically slowing) the influx of illegal aliens into the country. How could you think a fence would fail? Don't walls in your house make you change direction? Do you drive through the concrete barriers on the freeway? Is your parking space next to the water cooler in your office? NO! Barriers work.

The fence works. And when it comes to defending this country from an invading army of more than 20 million people, I have no problem erecting a 30-foot steel fence to do it! I wish our nation did not have to build 2,000 miles of fencing along a border with our southern neighbor. Given the right circumstances, we could have a mutually beneficial relationship with Mexico involving trade, military agreements, and cultural exchange. Instead, Mexico views the United States as its most efficient method of disposing with it's undesirables: The uneducated, poverty stricken nationals who could not provide a decent life in their own country.

We must make our immigration process more effective and efficient, while at the same time strengthening our own border security to protect American interests. This isn't about class warfare, or nationalism, or isolationism. It's about the survival of the American way of life. And if you don't think that is better than Mexico's, please do me a favor and head south. Live the life of a typical Mexican citizen and let me know on which side of the Rio Grande the grass is greenest.